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White House blasted for classified information leaks
Citizen grand jury accuses administration of using secrets to bolster political standing
WND
Bob Unruh
11/2/2012
Excerpt:
Members of a citizen grand jury meeting in Ocala, Fla., have produced a multi-count indictment alleging Barack Obama and Joe Biden failed to protect the secrets of the U.S. and its allies.
The group concluded “loose lips” led to the deaths of dozens of members of the U.S. military and the imprisonment of a Pakistani physician who helped locate Osama bin Laden.
“The information leaked was done so intentionally and wantonly without regard to, or concern for, the national security of the United States and whose only purpose was to bolster and promote Defendant Obama’s and Biden’s political agenda, and harm U.S. national security,” the indictment charges.
The examination of Obama White House activities over recent days was assembled by attorney Larry Klayman, a former Justice Department prosecutor.
The indictment explains it was Biden who last May at a social function in Washington revealed the identity of the military unit that assaulted the Abbottabad, Pakistan, compound where bin Laden was hiding and killed him.
There had been no prior mention of the identities, the citizen grand jury was told.
It was just a few months later, the document alleges, “following the release of this classified information, insurgents shot down a U.S. military helicopter during fighting in eastern Afghanistan, killing 30 Americans, most of them belonging to the same elite Navy SEALS Team Six that killed Osama bin Laden.”
At the May event, Biden boasted of the military’s accomplishment.
“Let me briefly acknowledge tonight’s distinguished honorees,” the vice president said. “Admiral James Stavridis is a, is the real deal. He can tell you more about and understand the incredible, the phenomenal, the just almost unbelievable capacity of his Navy SEALs and what they did last Sunday.”"
The document quoted Kurt Tidd, vice admiral in the U.S. Navy, who said in a sworn Freedom of Information Act statement denying access to military information, “Although it is known that [Department of Defense] conducts military and intelligence operations in foreign nations, publicly disclosing a particular military or intelligence activity could cause the foreign government to respond in ways that would damage U.S. national interests.”
Klayman pointed out to WND that according to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the citizen grand jury is not a branch of the judicial, executive or legislative branches of government, but an entity to itself.
In the 1990s U.S. v. Williams ruling, the Supreme Court determined the federal courts lack the authority to require a prosecutor to present specific information to a grand jury, Klayman explained.
The opinion rejected the argument that the concept of “checks and balances” allows a court to “exercise supervisory power over grand jury proceedings.” Therefore, Klayman told WND, the citizen grand jury is considered the ideal vehicle to bypass all of the political attachments of the judiciary and cut to the chase in evaluating a president’s actions.
“Justice Antonin Scalia held … that the grand jury’s functional independence from the judicial branch is evident both in the scope of its power to investigate criminal wrongdoing and in the manner in which that power is exercised. Unlike [a] court, whose jurisdiction is predicated upon a specific case or controversy, the grand jury can investigate merely on suspicion that the law is being violated, or even because it wants assurance that it is not,” he wrote.
In the same commentary, Klayman explained that America’s Founders established the grand jury as an alternative to “violent revolution.”
It is a process by which “Americans themselves can enforce the law.”
“This is our only recourse to hold the president and his accomplices truly accountable for their actions.”
On a website set up in support of the citizen grand jury, he writes: “With government corruption and treasonous acts running rampant, particularly with regard to President Obama and his administration, many have asked what ordinary American citizens can do to legally mete out justice. … There is only one strong legal mechanism that can be invoked. That is the so-called ‘citizens grand jury.’”
Klayman, the founder of Judicial Watch and later, FreedomWatch, has throughout his career prosecuted government corruption, taking on powerful politicians on both sides of the aisle, including President Bill Clinton.
The jurors also adopted a statement regarding a leak of information from the Obama administration and how, “As a direct result of this leak, Shakil Alfridi, a Pakistani doctor who aided the Central Intelligence Agency in tracking down Osama bin Laden, was arrested and sentenced to 33 years in jail when the Pakistani authorities discovered Alfridi’s involvement with the CIA after an internal government probe.
“These leaks on national security coming from the White House undermine the men and women who put risks on their lives for us. This is not helpful. I suppose it could have served some short-term political gain, could have … told some nice story,” said U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., now the GOP nominee for vice president.
“But let’s ask this question: If you’re a doctor in Pakistan and the American government asks you to help in the future and you see that, what do you think you’re going to do? How are we going to get people to help us in the war on terror if this is how we treat our allies in the war on terror?”
The White House decision to grant Hollywood access to the raid details – for the purpose of movie that apparently will portray Obama as a hero – also was raised as an issue.
“Days after the raid, Hollywood was invited into the White House so that they could receive a briefing on exactly how the raid took place,” said Fred Rustman, a retired CIA officer, “What kind of sources we had. What kind of methods we used. All for the purpose of making a Hollywood movie.”
On another subject, there are allegations that Obama “ordered the release of classified intelligence assessments and documents that detail Israel’s most sensitive military zones. Released were staging grounds (air base) and logistics in Azerbaijan where Israel Defense could easily strike Iran.”
“Israel, a United States ally, had a secret relationship with Azerbaijan or at least, it had. Azerbaijan had granted Israel access to airbases in its territory along Iran’s northern border for potential use in a military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, a report published Wednesday in Foreign Policy magazine quoted senior U.S. officials as saying. ‘The Israelis have bought an airfield,’ an official said, ‘and the airfield is called Azerbaijan.’ … The Foreign Policy report by journalist Mark Perry, said the Obama administration believes the Jerusalem-Baku relationship is raising the risk of an Israeli strike on Iran. Senior U.S. officials have said that Israel’s military expansion into Azerbaijan is complicating U.S. efforts to defuse Israeli-Iranian tensions. ‘We’re watching what Israel is doing in Azerbaijan. And we’re not happy about it,’ one official said,” according to Klayman’s presentation.
.................................................. .....
View the complete article, including videos, at:
http://www.wnd.com/2012/11/white-hou...rmation-leaks/
Citizen grand jury accuses administration of using secrets to bolster political standing
WND
Bob Unruh
11/2/2012
Excerpt:
Members of a citizen grand jury meeting in Ocala, Fla., have produced a multi-count indictment alleging Barack Obama and Joe Biden failed to protect the secrets of the U.S. and its allies.
The group concluded “loose lips” led to the deaths of dozens of members of the U.S. military and the imprisonment of a Pakistani physician who helped locate Osama bin Laden.
“The information leaked was done so intentionally and wantonly without regard to, or concern for, the national security of the United States and whose only purpose was to bolster and promote Defendant Obama’s and Biden’s political agenda, and harm U.S. national security,” the indictment charges.
The examination of Obama White House activities over recent days was assembled by attorney Larry Klayman, a former Justice Department prosecutor.
The indictment explains it was Biden who last May at a social function in Washington revealed the identity of the military unit that assaulted the Abbottabad, Pakistan, compound where bin Laden was hiding and killed him.
There had been no prior mention of the identities, the citizen grand jury was told.
It was just a few months later, the document alleges, “following the release of this classified information, insurgents shot down a U.S. military helicopter during fighting in eastern Afghanistan, killing 30 Americans, most of them belonging to the same elite Navy SEALS Team Six that killed Osama bin Laden.”
At the May event, Biden boasted of the military’s accomplishment.
“Let me briefly acknowledge tonight’s distinguished honorees,” the vice president said. “Admiral James Stavridis is a, is the real deal. He can tell you more about and understand the incredible, the phenomenal, the just almost unbelievable capacity of his Navy SEALs and what they did last Sunday.”"
The document quoted Kurt Tidd, vice admiral in the U.S. Navy, who said in a sworn Freedom of Information Act statement denying access to military information, “Although it is known that [Department of Defense] conducts military and intelligence operations in foreign nations, publicly disclosing a particular military or intelligence activity could cause the foreign government to respond in ways that would damage U.S. national interests.”
Klayman pointed out to WND that according to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the citizen grand jury is not a branch of the judicial, executive or legislative branches of government, but an entity to itself.
In the 1990s U.S. v. Williams ruling, the Supreme Court determined the federal courts lack the authority to require a prosecutor to present specific information to a grand jury, Klayman explained.
The opinion rejected the argument that the concept of “checks and balances” allows a court to “exercise supervisory power over grand jury proceedings.” Therefore, Klayman told WND, the citizen grand jury is considered the ideal vehicle to bypass all of the political attachments of the judiciary and cut to the chase in evaluating a president’s actions.
“Justice Antonin Scalia held … that the grand jury’s functional independence from the judicial branch is evident both in the scope of its power to investigate criminal wrongdoing and in the manner in which that power is exercised. Unlike [a] court, whose jurisdiction is predicated upon a specific case or controversy, the grand jury can investigate merely on suspicion that the law is being violated, or even because it wants assurance that it is not,” he wrote.
In the same commentary, Klayman explained that America’s Founders established the grand jury as an alternative to “violent revolution.”
It is a process by which “Americans themselves can enforce the law.”
“This is our only recourse to hold the president and his accomplices truly accountable for their actions.”
On a website set up in support of the citizen grand jury, he writes: “With government corruption and treasonous acts running rampant, particularly with regard to President Obama and his administration, many have asked what ordinary American citizens can do to legally mete out justice. … There is only one strong legal mechanism that can be invoked. That is the so-called ‘citizens grand jury.’”
Klayman, the founder of Judicial Watch and later, FreedomWatch, has throughout his career prosecuted government corruption, taking on powerful politicians on both sides of the aisle, including President Bill Clinton.
The jurors also adopted a statement regarding a leak of information from the Obama administration and how, “As a direct result of this leak, Shakil Alfridi, a Pakistani doctor who aided the Central Intelligence Agency in tracking down Osama bin Laden, was arrested and sentenced to 33 years in jail when the Pakistani authorities discovered Alfridi’s involvement with the CIA after an internal government probe.
“These leaks on national security coming from the White House undermine the men and women who put risks on their lives for us. This is not helpful. I suppose it could have served some short-term political gain, could have … told some nice story,” said U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., now the GOP nominee for vice president.
“But let’s ask this question: If you’re a doctor in Pakistan and the American government asks you to help in the future and you see that, what do you think you’re going to do? How are we going to get people to help us in the war on terror if this is how we treat our allies in the war on terror?”
The White House decision to grant Hollywood access to the raid details – for the purpose of movie that apparently will portray Obama as a hero – also was raised as an issue.
“Days after the raid, Hollywood was invited into the White House so that they could receive a briefing on exactly how the raid took place,” said Fred Rustman, a retired CIA officer, “What kind of sources we had. What kind of methods we used. All for the purpose of making a Hollywood movie.”
On another subject, there are allegations that Obama “ordered the release of classified intelligence assessments and documents that detail Israel’s most sensitive military zones. Released were staging grounds (air base) and logistics in Azerbaijan where Israel Defense could easily strike Iran.”
“Israel, a United States ally, had a secret relationship with Azerbaijan or at least, it had. Azerbaijan had granted Israel access to airbases in its territory along Iran’s northern border for potential use in a military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, a report published Wednesday in Foreign Policy magazine quoted senior U.S. officials as saying. ‘The Israelis have bought an airfield,’ an official said, ‘and the airfield is called Azerbaijan.’ … The Foreign Policy report by journalist Mark Perry, said the Obama administration believes the Jerusalem-Baku relationship is raising the risk of an Israeli strike on Iran. Senior U.S. officials have said that Israel’s military expansion into Azerbaijan is complicating U.S. efforts to defuse Israeli-Iranian tensions. ‘We’re watching what Israel is doing in Azerbaijan. And we’re not happy about it,’ one official said,” according to Klayman’s presentation.
.................................................. .....
View the complete article, including videos, at:
http://www.wnd.com/2012/11/white-hou...rmation-leaks/